LAGOS/Nigeria: Nigeria’s housing challenge requires more than increased construction, with experts calling for stronger political commitment and new financing mechanisms capable of connecting long-term capital with housing development.
Prof. Timothy Nubi, Director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development at the University of Lagos, made the call at the “Beyond Rent: A Lagos Housing and Capital Forum” organised by GTI Investment Group in Lagos.
The hybrid forum, which focused on “Housing, Capital and the Future of Lagos”, also featured the unveiling of GTI’s 86-page research publication, Beyond Rent: Mapping Lagos’ Housing-Led Capital Expansion.
Nubi argued that Nigeria had for years identified the major obstacles to housing delivery but had struggled to translate policy discussions into sustained implementation.
He said government remained central to solving the problem because issues surrounding land administration, regulation, legislation and infrastructure could not be addressed by the private sector alone.
The university don identified long-term financing as one of the critical gaps in the housing sector, pointing to the National Housing Fund as an instrument that could play a greater role if its operations were strengthened and digitised.
He also pointed to Nigeria’s pension industry as another potential source of long-term capital for housing, noting that pension assets had grown substantially but were not being sufficiently channelled into housing investment.
According to Nubi, limited investment vehicles, including Real Estate Investment Trusts, have further restricted the ability of institutional investors to participate meaningfully in the sector.
He identified the high cost of land, insecure property titles, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to long-term finance among the factors making housing increasingly unaffordable in Lagos.
Nubi warned that the pressure would intensify as the population of Lagos continues to grow, making it necessary for policymakers and investors to begin planning for housing demand over the coming decades.
He also drew attention to the effect of housing costs on workers, noting that many residents were being forced to live considerable distances from their workplaces because they could not afford accommodation closer to their places of employment.
That situation, he said, had implications for productivity, commuting and the overall quality of life of residents.
Nubi urged government and private investors to place greater emphasis on affordable housing, urban renewal and the redevelopment of poorly serviced communities.
“We do not have a housing crisis, we have a capital architecture problem. Design the system and the city will build itself,” he said.
The forum also heard that government alone could not provide the financing required to meet Lagos’ housing needs.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Abdulhafis Toriola, called for greater participation by private investors, with government providing land, infrastructure, regulatory support and incentives capable of reducing the barriers facing developers.
He said public-private partnerships and more efficient approval processes could help unlock additional investment in housing.
Toriola also cited the regulatory framework established through the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority as part of efforts to create greater order in the property sector.
Other participants called for quicker processing of land titles, more effective mechanisms for resolving property disputes and financing arrangements that would enable developers to access capital over longer periods.
Managing Director of GTI Capital Ltd., Kehinde Hassan, urged stakeholders in the financial, government and real estate sectors to participate actively in developing solutions to the housing challenge.
The discussions reflected a growing emphasis on treating housing not simply as a construction problem but as an issue involving finance, land, infrastructure, regulation and household purchasing power. GTI’s research presented at the forum similarly identified income, finance, land and infrastructure as major drivers of Lagos’ housing affordability problem.
